Star-crossed
by maraudergirl68448
Summary: A/U Based on the new TV series Star-crossed. Clary is part of a species of another planet. She and her family come to earth in peace, only to be ridiculed. What happens when she meets Jace again? Will he restore her faith in humanity? Or will Clary die at the hands of the humans who've imprisoned her and her family for years? Disclaim: Don't own TMI, TID or Star-crossed (Sadly)
1. Introduction

**S'up?**

**I know I shouldn't be starting new stories, but I fell in love with this one and I couldn't help myself! It's based off a new tv show called Star-crossed and I've only watched one episode and I'm hooked! (If I receive spoilers, I will kill you!)**

**Anyways, I made this chapter long because it's a trial story. If I get enough support, I'll continue it after I finish one of my other stories that's nearly done! If I don't get much support, I'll stick to the stories I already have and just fantazise about the new series! Honestly guys, if you like aliens and furturistic stuff, check the show out! For anyone with Sky tv, It's on Fridays and Sundays (As far as I know) but it's really good!**

**So yeah...here's my version of this story...you should read it...I spent a whole day on it when I had other things that needed to be done and guess what...I've added more stuff on my to-do list for tomorrow! **

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"Good luck." My father said, smiling proudly at me and my brother. "I'm sure you'll make us proud. Today, we make a huge step in forming an alliance with the humans!" he continued on.

I shared a glance with my brother before looking back at our father. If he thought this little experiment was going to work, he wasn't going to listen to any negativity.

We were – in the humans language – aliens. We did come from another planet, escaping from the mad clutches of our leader in our home planet. She had been ruthless and left us with no choice.

My kind had been monitoring other life forms, looking for a planet we could all share. I often wondered if we invented time travel, could we use it to go back to our home planet and somehow change our course?

The humans on this planet have been wary and hateful to my kind since arrival day. We have never given them any reason to be afraid of us, yet here we were, in our own sector, being monitored constantly. Human guards walked through us daily, huge guns in hand ready to put a bullet in anyone who didn't follow the rules we had been given.

My parents had been on the council that chose to leave our planet and travel to earth. My mother had told me for as long as I could remember, that once we arrived on earth, we would be welcomed and we would be taught the humans ways.

I was only four when we arrived, yet I knew when many of us fell to the ground after a loud bang erupted, we weren't being welcomed.

I hated thinking about arrival day. I had never felt so scared like I was then. The day when so many of us died because we were suspected of being a threat.

Twelve years later, and those of my kind who weren't killed were trapped in a sector. We were given a curfew, in which we had to stay inside our family pods and until told otherwise, we couldn't leave till curfew was lifted the next day.

My father now led the H.E.A which stood for Human and Extraterrestrial Alliance. He consulted with a human who also hoped to form an alliance between our kinds had set up a program my brother and I were starting today with a few others.

We liked to be called Cova. In our language, it means courage. But humans liked to call us 'Tatty's', a cruel reference to the markings my kind has on their faces. We all have them, none are alike. Mine look like the star sign Aries. They have a diamond shape with a symmetric lines sprouting a near three lined circle sprouting from a tip.

The markings are the only thing in our physical difference that make us stand out as being non-human.

I'm sure I could pass for a human with my curly red air that fell to my waist, pale skin tone and emerald green eyes. My markings started from my hairline on both sides of my face and reached my eyes.

My brother looked stranger than me, in my opinion. He was much taller than me, he also had pale skin and emerald green eyes. Instead of having a red mess of hair, he got our fathers straight platinum hair. His markings stood out as they were illuminated by his pale skin and hair. They were squares that were in the same place as mine.

My mother who I inherited my appearance from, entered the small hallway of our home. "I hope it goes well..." She said, her face revealed all of her nervousness and fear. "Maybe we should postpone for a little longer..." She spoke to my father.

"We'll be fine mom." My brother, Jonathan said walking towards her and wrapping his arm around her, just proving how small she was.

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll be making friendship bracelets with the humans in no time." I said, receiving an annoyed look from my father.

He and my brother looked alike, but my father had more time to practice his 'I'm scary and you will fear me' look.

"You're not participating in this experiment to befriend the humans. You're being sent to the human school to learn."

I refrained from rolling my eyes. It would just get me into trouble. "I thought the point of the experiment was to let the humans see how harmless we were?"

"Which can and will be achieved by staying out of trouble. Lucian and I have been setting this project up for months. Today we take a step forward in our relationship with the humans. I would ask only that you do not let your people down by letting your anger get the better of you." my father said, his black eyes unnerving me.

I sighed. "I'll do my best."

It wasn't what he was looking for, but he preferred honesty over unrealistic lies.

"We better get going before the humans thinks we're insulting them." Jonathan said quickly, walking towards me and pulling me after him as we left our home.

"You really hate confrontation, don't you?" I muttered as I pulled the old rucksack on my back further up my shoulder. It was empty, but we had been told by the end of the first day of human high school, the bags would weigh tons.

Jonathan shrugged. "You know what dad's like with this project. He's proud that we'll be the first of our kind that starts the whole human/extraterrestrial friendship."

"The only reason we're going is because of dad. How many of us all together are going?"

"Eight all together I think. Us, rat face, the Penhallows, blue-eyed moron, Jem and Jessamine." He said, counting each name off his fingers.

"Clearly you love them all."

Jonathan grinned but didn't reply. We made it to the huge, heavily guarded door that was the only exit from the sector...aside from a few make-shift holes in the fence that surrounded the sector which were useless since we all had tracking chips implanted in us and punishment for escape was death.

There was a bus that was mainly used to bring food into the sector parked in front of the gate, at least eight guards surrounded it.

General Herondale stood out from among the guards. He was watching us as we approached before he pointed to a red line where the others were already standing behind.

The general was a man who clearly was no stranger to exercise. He had short dark hair, which curled slightly, his skin tone was shades darker than mine. He had blue eyes, which were extremely light. From a distance, you would think his eyes were just black and white. He wore the normal Guard attire, except his shoulder pads were red while everyone else's were blue. The uniform was a multiple green pants and coat with a black vest over the torso. The guards wore black shoes that reached their shins and some wore multiple green hats.

Simon, my long-term best friend. He had shaggy brown hair with dark brown eyes. His pale face was clammy, most likely from him being nervous. He was petrified of entering the humans school where we could easily be attacked. His star-shaped markings stood out from his face being so pale.

Aline and Sebastian were brother and sister. They were an odd pair of siblings in our world. They were Penhallows, which the humans called twins. Our kind was never born with their siblings. It was a rare happening.

Aline had black hair, which she cut to her shoulders and refused to allow it to grow longer. Her dark brown eyes were always shining with happiness, no matter the situation. She had a darker skin tone than my brother and me. Her markings weren't as clear as her skin tone was only a few shades lighter. The markings were in the shape of spirals. She was my only friend that was a girl.

Sebastian didn't look like his sister, like the way Jonathan and Clary didn't look-alike. He had black hair which was shaved at the side but all of his hair that was long was pulled forward and flowed down his forehead. His skin was lighter than his sisters, but like Aline, his markings were also not as obvious. They looked like X's. His eyes were a light shade of brown, but their intensity was the same as fire. He was Jonathan's best friend, Clary got along with him, but she wouldn't call them good friends.

Will was Jonathan's least liked Cova. Although, he was still liked more than the humans. He had curly black hair, which he refused to cut. His deep blue eyes were mesmerizing whenever you stared into them. I don't know why Jonathan had such a problem with Will. He didn't seem that bad. He would always tell me a few Jokes and he would always try and console me if I was upset. His markings were dark against his parlour. They were in the shape of an S.

Jem was silver all over. When we arrived on earth, he fell ill and it took a lot of the medicine we had salvaged from our craft and hid from the humans to save him. Unfortunately, it turned his brown hair and brown eyes, silver. The medicine just flushed his colour from his body. He's one of the kindest Cova's I know. He's modest and he rarely lied, if ever. He was the opposite of his best friend, Will. His markings were as obvious as Jonathan's. They were like little doodles of nonsense, but at the same time, they looked beautiful.

Jessamine...Where does one begin to describe Jessamine? To say her and I didn't get along would be like saying the humans were envious of our kind. We began their hatred for one another when I 'accidentally' tripped her, causing her to fall into a puddle of mud. Our relationship just plummeted from there. She had blonde hair which was well cared for, and her brown eyes seemed to always be accusing as she mainly glared at those around her. Her markings on her milk skin were like the vines on the buildings in the sector. They were intricate, but Jessamine could easily hide her markings as they were just at her hairline.

All of them were wearing the handed down clothes we were given by the humans. We weren't given new clothes, we were instead, given hand downs.

Some of the clothes weren't so bad. My outfit for the day consisted of jeans that hugged to my legs, a long blue shirt that reached the middle of my thigh. I wore a shiny short black jacket, the material I was told was a copy of a type of animal skin. My shoes were a strange material, when I let my hand slide down one way, they were soft, when I tried to slide them the other way, they were rough.

My accessories consisted of a chain with a pendant of a shooting star. My father had given it to me, just before we left our home planet. It was like a token, a symbol of hope. He told me the star represented our travel. It was the one time my father had said something that wasn't demeaning or argumentative to me.

The others were also wearing their own old human clothes. Jessamine was the only one wearing a dress and looked displeased about the fact that she hadn't been the first to wear it.

Jonathan and I stood behind the line as General Herondale walked over to us, his gun pointed at the ground, but I knew it could be pointed at our heads in a split second. I cast a quick glance in the direction we had just walked. Many of our people stopped what they were doing to watch us. Even some of the guards amongst them stopped to stare.

"I'm sure you are all eagerly awaiting to enter the human sector." The general said, glancing at Simon who was clearly shaking. "But be warned. You all know your kind are not well liked. Many are against this...trial and are just waiting for you all to screw it up." At that he paused to look at us all, staring into our faces one by one. "You have all been chosen to represent your kind, I should hope you do them justice. I would hate to have to use this-" he raised his gun, "on any of you. Any questions?"

The right answer would just to shake your head and let him continue. But I wasn't about to go into the centre of a cova hating sector where one mistake could be my last action. I raised my hand and the general nodded, giving me permission to ask.

"What will happen if the human teenagers in the school attack us?" I could feel the disapproving glances I was getting, but no one objected.

General Herondale smirked as he said "Guards will be patrolling the hallways of the school. If a fight begins, you can be assured it will be short-lived. Any other questions?"

I had plenty, but I decided not to push my luck. Once word of me asking a question about our security reached my father, I was going to be in big trouble.

When no one else raised their hand, the general continued speaking. "Once we leave this compound, you will be in the middle of an angry mob of protesters. My team will be keeping them from doing any of you physical harm, and if we work together, we can get through the mob quicker. That means that you do not taunt them or add more fuel to the fire of their displeasure. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir." We all said simultaneously.

He nodded. "Good. Once we reach the school, you will be brought straight to a classroom where Lucian Greyback will be waiting. He will inform you of the rules you have to abide by and will answer any furthur questions you may have. Are you all ready to leave?"

I glanced at my companions for the day. They all picked up their own rucksacks – which were also handed down by humans – before nodding. I took a deep breath as I followed the general who led us to the front of the bus where the door opened. Their was another guard sitting at the wheel, he didn't look at us as we stepped onto the bus.

There was plenty of seats in which we could all have our own seat, but I sat next to Simon who looked like he was on the verge of getting sick.

"Everything's going to be okay." I tried to reassure him. Living with my father taught me how to not show fear. There was times where I could make myself forget what fear was, but no one can escape the horrible feeling for long.

Simon just shook his head. "We can die for one mistake out here. If what the general is saying is true, we could be killed by the end of the day! How can you seem so calm?" Simon cried, like he was hoping I would tell him my secret of fearlessness.

I shrugged. "My mom is making a questionable stew later. At least if I die in the human sector, I can die from my actions and not from my mothers food."

That made him smile.

We stayed silent for the short trip it took for the bus to start and the gates to open. I never left the sector, except the few times I went through the holes in the fence, before the tracking chips were installed. But I'd never been in the human sector except once.

Lucian had told me and Jonathan about the human sector every time he visited our dad. He said it was like a utopia as technology has surpassed everyone's imaginations.

He always fell silent when he realised he basically told two children that were prisoners about a paradise they could never reach.

It didn't take long for us all to see the General had belittled how much of a mob there was.

We weren't that far from home, and already we could see so many humans with guns, posters that said 'Rid the world of Tatty's!', 'Kill the aliens!' or 'Keep Tatty's away from our children!'. So many humans were protesting, I felt the urge to break a window to escape the bus just so I could teach some 'Tatty' haters a lesson. I felt a hand on my shoulder and when I looked back, Jonathan was watching me, like he knew what I was thinking.

I sighed as I watched the humans try to get close to the bus, those who did just punched it while shouting some crude words and telling us to go back to our own planet.

Is this the humanity my mother had thought me of being such a beautiful thing? Was being closed-minded all that needed to have humanity? To be prejudiced because you were not from the same world? Because we were different?

If that's humanity, I don't want to learn any more of it. There was only two humans I knew that were actually open-minded. Lucian and a boy I met an arrival day who I never saw again. I wonder if he was still alive, or if he was now corrupted into thinking like the other humans. Too bad I'd never see him again. I never learned to peel an apple like he had without cutting my fingers...

The force of the bus stopping snapped me from my thoughts as I used my quick reflexes to stop my head from hitting the metal bar of the seat in front of me.

The General, who I hadn't realised was on the bus, stood up and faced us. The guard driver quickly grabbed his own gun as he hopped off the bus, clearly relieved he wasn't driving through angry crowds any more.

"We're here. Welcome to Idris high. If you follow me, we will line you up in the hallway to give us time to empty the hallways before we take you to Dr. Greyback." The general said before turning and marching off the bus.

Sebastian was the first to follow. He met my eyes and winked at me before sauntering off the bus. The rest of us didn't wait too long as the crowd of humans were getting nearer to the opposite side of the bus and I wasn't about to avoid getting glass in my hair.

One by one, we stepped off the vehicle, I surveyed our surroundings. Guards were pushing back people, shouting insults at us and threatening us if we hurt their children. The guards were having trouble trying to keep them back, but none of us waited around to see how long they'd last.

We followed the general through the open unnecessary glass door. We walked after him until we stood in the middle of a round hallway with three small hallways leading in different directions.

We lined up as we were instructed to. Aline, Sebastian, Jonathan stood on my left, Simon, Will, Jem and Jessamine stood on my right. The general paced in front of us, muttering to himself a few times, low enough that I couldn't hear him.

"Why are they all staring..." I heard Jonathan mutter to no one in particular, but I was curious. Who was he talking about?

I looked up at him, to see he was looking up as well. I followed his gaze and felt both of my hearts start pounding.

Their was a spiral staircase that led to two balcony's on different floors. On both balconies and staircases were humans our age. They were, like Jonathan said, staring directly at us. My eyes moved on their own accord, taking in every detail of each person.

One stood out the most.

Gold. Gold hair. Gold eyes. His skin was a few shades lighter than Aline's, just making him seem more gold. He was watching us, his eyes moving between us. That was until his eyes met mine, than he stared and frowned.

It was the boy, the first human boy I'd ever met. The boy who was able to peel an apple with a knife without spilling his blood.

The human boy who I'd stopped one of my hearts for as I jumped in front of a gun that would have seriously hurt, if not killed him.

The human boy who probably hated me and like all other humans, thought I was a monster.

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**Remember, this is a trial story. I'm unsure whether I'll continue, but I love the story line! I'll probably follow the first episode, but after that, I'll make this story my own! I just really love the show already!**

**So yeah...if you want me to continue, you know what to do with the favourite, follow and review box! ;)**

**Till next time (Maybe) ~Maraudergirl68448**


	2. Welcome to school

**Hello everyone!**

**Thank you all so much for your support in this story! I hope you all continue to enjoy the story! :D **

**As you can all see, I will be continuing with this story! :D This chapter isn't exciting, but It's just something I wrote quickly! Hope you all enjoy!**

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_Stop staring. Stop staring. Stop staring._ I repeated in my head, trying to gain control over my actions.

I stopped staring at the golden human, and kept my sights locked on the pacing general. I wish I had never looked up. Now I could feel the weight of all the humans stares on us.

Two guards came back, the two that had been sent to clear the halls of humans. I don't understand why they cleared the hallway when we would have to be sharing the same vicinity, but whatever keeps the guns in their hands from putting bullets in our bodies.

"Sir, the way is clear." one of the guards said when he stood directly behind the line the General had been pacing.

General Herondale nodded before turning to face us. "Follow me. Lucian will be waiting." he said before turning around and walking the way the two guard had just came.

I felt someone grab my hand as we began walking. I didn't have to look to know it was Jonathan.

The eight of us followed the general, passing doors and lockers. My hands clenched when I saw the symbol that was the symbol of the humans protests against my kind. It was an oval shape with square designs on both sides. Even though it lacked It was an impersonation of my kind, and the humans had it crossed out with a big red X. The design was known to us as tags.

I took a deep breath and kept walking. I ignored the numerous tags on the many lockers. I wasn't about to destroy the experiment in less than an hour of it beginning. My father wouldn't let me ever forget it.

The hallway seemed to be endless till we stopped outside one of the many wooden doors. The General opened the door without knocking and motioned us to enter. We all filed in, Jonathan released my hand before stepping into the room.

Lucian stood at the top of the room, eight desks made half a circle around him.

"Good morning." Lucian said, smiling excitedly at us. At least someone was happy to see us. "Please, take a seat." He waved his hand in an arc.

Hesitantly, we all took a seat. I chose a seat that had a good view of the window. It wasn't as good of a view as I got when I visited the roof of our home where my father grew plants from the seeds we salvaged from our ship on arrival day. But I got a decent view of the mob of protesters along with a few humans standing in front of the cameras that are usually outside the fence of our sector.

Yesterday, there had been so many cameras pointed at us, guards had to threaten them to leave. They must have gotten their point across since I don't remember seeing any this morning.

"As you all know, this experimental trial to merge both our kinds together takes place today. Our goal for this trial is to show how cooperative your kind are towards working with us. As you noticed upon leaving your sector, many people are against this trial. Hopefully we can change their outlook if you all follow the rules set out." Lucian said before taking a long look at us all, like his blue eyes were trying to reach our minds to see if we mentally promised to follow the rules.

Out of all of us, Jonathan raised his hand. "It's clear some of the hum- teenagers," Shortly after arrival day, we learned that humans apparently didn't like to be called humans, but it was okay to call us 'Tatty's, "-will most likely be against us being in their school. What happens if one of them initiate a fight?"

I looked from my brother to Lucian who seemed to be in deep thought about the question. He looked from Jonathan to the guards standing at the door.

After a moment of silence, he answered "Guards will be patrolling the hallways constantly. If a student does initiate a fight, it will be stopped."Punishment will be applied where due."

I frowned before speaking without raising my hand "So if we get into a fight, we could be punished for defending ourselves?"

Lucian looked like he had expected the question. "The hallways are monitored by camera's as well as guards. So we will be able to look over the footage if a fight starts. Hopefully it won't come to that."

I wanted to argue further, but I refrained. This whole trial was definitely going to fail before the end of the day. One glance at the others, and they clearly weren't happy with the precaution either.

"What about the teachers? What happens if they start something?" Will asked, his blue eyes in slits.

"The same results for if a student begins a fight. Also, you will all be in the same classes, so at least two guards will be stationed in each class you have." Lucian said, but he didn't seem happy about it.

"What of the tagging on the lockers? The ones we saw on the way here? Why are they allowed to decorate the doors of lockers?" Jessamine asked. Her expression was one of boredom, but I knew she was excited to be in the presence of humans. If she had the choice, she would gladly leave behind her family and join the human society.

"The schools janitors are constantly cleaning the lockers, but some of the students are stubborn that they persist in tagging their lockers. I'm afraid we have been unsuccessful in convincing students to leave their lockers unmarked." Lucian told us, before writing down something in a notebook on a desk behind him. "Any more questions?"

My hand twitched as I had been about to raise it, but refrained. We would be there all day if I asked all the questions on my mind.

Lucian glanced at all of us, but no one else raised their hands either.

"Very well. I've been told to remind you that under no circumstances, are any of you to initialise a fight, whether it's intended or not. You are all to try your best to get along with the other students and faculty in this school." Lucian said sternly.

"_How do we avoid a fight if the humans are already waiting to kill us?" _I whispered to the person next to me, which happened to be Sebastian.

Lucian clearly heard me as he turned to face me. "Another thing I was told to remind you of was that you are all ordered to speak English only. Would you mind repeating what you said Clarissa?" Lucian challenged.

"I said I can't wait to start this experiment!" I said with false enthusiasm.

Sebastian snorted as Lucian gave me a stern look. He clearly didn't believe me, but didn't argue.

"None of you are permitted to leave the school until the end of the school day ends. Then you are only allowed to go straight home via the bus you arrived in. You are not allowed to leave the school except to return to your sector. Are we clear?"

"Yes." we all said simultaneously again.

"Okay. Also, you will receive your books in each of your classes today and will be given work to do for your next class. I will admit that students are allowed to choose their own classes, but since we wanted you all in the same classes, we chose the classes for you." Lucian said as he took up a pile of paper from his desk and started handing two out to each of us. "There is a map of the school, hopefully it'll help you around. The other paper is your schedule of classes. Any questions?"

"_Are you going to keep asking us for questions?" _I heard Will mutter. I was sitting across the room from him, so if I could hear him, Lucian could hear him.

"English! Please!" Lucian said exasperated.

Will smiled before saying "What's chemistry?"

I frowned. It sounded like a type of science. I could see that going well with the humans. 'Tatty's learn science to destroy us all!'...It wouldn't be the most absurd thing the humans came up with.

"Chemistry is the chemicals type of science. We considered putting you all in the biology class, but...after a discussion it was considered too problematic."

"Biology?" I blurted without thinking.

Cova's knew English, but the names of our classes looked completely strange.

"Biology is another type of science which involves the study of living things. There's also physics which studies basically everything in the universe and how it works..." Luke said slowly as he realised how stupid his answer was.

"It's clearly not a broad subject since you never knew about us till twelve years ago." Jonathan said sarcastically, surprising me.

"_I thought we're here to learn, not teach?" _Jessamine whispered to me. I didn't realise she was sitting beside me.

"Guys, I can't express how important it is that you all speak English. There are enough people who are against you being here and will be more than happy to see this experiment fail. If they think you're talking about them in your own language, you can be sure they will not take it lightly." Luke met all of our stares before turning to Jessamine. "Understand?"

We all nodded.

I raised my hand. "Yes Clarissa?"

"It's Clary." I corrected but continued when I saw his eye twitch. "What's Spanish?"

Luke pinched the area between his eyes before heaving a sigh. "All of your teachers will go through the topics of your classes. Any other questions?"

From the grins plastered on Sebastian and Wills faces, it was obvious they had plenty of rage-inducing questions for Lucian. But before they could ask, a woman's voice spoke in the room, a women with no body whose voice I'd heard for the last twelve years when she told our whole sector that curfew would soon be in effect.

"Classes will commence in five minutes."

Lucian muttered something before speaking out loud "I'm afraid we're out of time. If you need help throughout the day, don't be afraid to ask one of the guards patrolling the hallways or a teacher." I didn't miss the fact that he didn't say we could ask other students for assistance. "You may all leave." Lucian dismissed us. "Good luck and I hope today goes well in your favour." he said, smiling sadly at us.

It was like he knew we weren't going to have a good day. I wonder why he would think that?

We all stood up from our desks and headed to our first class which according to our timetables, was ''American History'. One of the guards pointed at the way for us, although he glared at us while doing so. It was easy to assume he would use the gun in his hands if any of us stepped a strand of hair out of line.

As we walked through the hallways that were no longer clear, I felt my face heat up from all the staring. Humans watched us, running out of the way like they were afraid if they got too close, they would be infected. If there wasn't a guard behind us, I'm sure there would be an uproar of chaos.

We all remained silent as we walked. I stared at the floor, refusing to look back to see how Simon and Jonathan were holding up. I just wanted to get to the first class without incident. Would that really be too hard to ask for?

It didn't take too long for me to realise that the staring would be the highlight of my day.


	3. Prison of a school

**Hey everyone...I'm so sorry for not updateing in forever! But I want you all to know that this story has not been stopped! **

**I have two questions for you all, I would like your opinion on! **

**Q1. Should Isabelle be nice or horrible to Clary and her people?**

**Q2. Should Will have a crush on Clary? (I'm sorry, but I'm a Cill fan!)**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

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Upon entering the 'American history' classroom, I could already tell we were very unwelcome. There were at estimate of twenty-five seats and desks in lines of five, all facing a bigger desk with a more comfortable looking chair. Behind the bigger desk and chair was a large white board with another tag on it.

There was a few human students standing and talking to one another, but as soon as we entered they all went quiet and stared at us. I felt someone place a hand on my shoulder in a reassuring gesture. I looked back, expecting it to be Jonathan. I could feel my face betray my shock as I stared into Sebastian's dark eyes.

I could feel my face flush as I turned my attention back on the humans and felt my whole body freeze.

He was there.

In the back of the room, the golden boy was leaning against the wall. He was standing beside a another boy with darker skin, brown hair that fell into his face and light brown eyes. On the golden boys other side, he had his arm draped over a white-haired girl with odd-looking pale green eyes.

The golden boy was staring at us, but when his eyes rested on me, he frowned once again.

Does he remember me? He probably thinks I'm dead and I'm just someone who resembles the girl who jumped in front of a gun to stop him from being harmed.

"Take your seats, please!" A deep man's voice said behind our group that was standing inside the open door.

I turned to see a man around my height moving through our group, towards the big desk. He was a thin man wearing a thin striped pants and jacket along with a dark grey shirt and black shiny shoes. He had grey hair with traces of white strands. His grey eyes barely regarded his surroundings, but I'm sure if I told Will, he would say how his nose was probably obscuring his eyesight.

When the man reached the big desk, he turned around to face us. He seemed to be inspecting us all, I couldn't tell if he was angry he had eight 'Tatty's' in his class or if he was uninterested in our existence.

Eventually, he turned to the rest of the class and pointed in the corner, the furthest point from the door and said in a bored tone "There are spare seats back there."

The cough from the guard standing behind us is probably what made us all move. I dodged tripping over a few bags that I'm sure were set down for the purpose of tripping us.

I chose a seat that was directly next a window, which was a mistake. I could see a lot of humans, all with posters exclaiming their outrage towards my kind and I could swear I could see similar weapons I saw soldiers with.

"For those of you that don't know," The man said, grasping my attention away from the window. He was staring directly at our corner of the room. "-my name is Professor Starkweather. I teach American history. We will be studying how this country came to be. Any questions?"

I took a deep breath. If I was asked once more if I had any more questions, I'm pretty sure I was going to take a gun and start shooting everything around me...that is I don't get shot first.

When no one raised their hand, Professor Starkweather started speaking again. "As most of you all know, we begin this class by saying the pledge of allegiance. Extraterrestrials are not expected to take part."

Good. This country has done nothing but caused horror and fear to my people. My allegiance will always be to my people.

Loud groans filled the room as the humans all stood up. I looked around me, none of my friends stood up. But I did figure out who was sitting around me.

I was seated behind another human, a girl with black hair. Her back was facing me so I couldn't see her face. Simon was sitting to my left, he still looked nervous. Glancing behind me, I realised Jonathan was directly behind me and Sebastian was sitting to his left. Sebastian looked straight at me and smirked. I couldn't help the heat that raised in my cheeks.

"On three. One...two...three." Professor Starkweather said before the whole class simultaneously began speaking.

All of the humans stood up from their seats and placed their right hand over their chest.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

I tried to hide the bewilderment I felt. Justice? Where was the justice for my people? We are constantly being monitored and many humans have voiced how much they wish for our death! And all we did was come to the planet, hoping to have peaceful lives with the humans!

"You freaks invade our world, wear our clothes, eat our food and breathe our air, but you can't honour this country that has been more than kind to you?!" a male voice hissed. I looked away from the window to see a curly brown-haired human boy who was sitting to the left of the girl in front of me. He was glaring directly at me, but his message was clearly for all of us.

"I know, it's terrible. If only we had the manners of you humans and started shooting you all with weapons we clearly have and threatening to kill off your entire species..." I said, using a tone my father would have punished me for.

The humans lips thinned and his eyes narrowed. He was about to speak again when Professor Starkweather's voice spoke up. "Is there a problem Mr. Lightwood and..." he asked, his voice trailed off since he didn't know my name.

"Clary and no sir. Just having a pleasant conversation." I said brightly, noting the quick glare Mr. Lightwood gave me.

Professor Starkweather looked between me and the human before speaking again. "Extraterrestrials do not have to recite the pledge of allegiance if they do not want to. Do you all understand?" he narrowed his eyes as he looked around the whole class.

There was a few murmurs of yes's, but overall not many responded.

Professor Starkweather sighed out of exasperation before turning back to his desk. He lifted something from behind the desk and placed a cardboard box on top of the desk. The loud bang of the box landing on the desk made me and everyone in my vision flinch.

Opening the box, Starkweather started taking out books that were the same size and had the same cover. Taking four, he made his way to our corner and handed me a book. "These will be the books you study with for this class. They will help you with the homework I assign and allow you to study for pop quiz's I give this class every Friday. Now, turn to page 394 and-" I tuned out the rest of his speech.

I was staring at the cover of the book. It looked like it was in much better condition than any books I'd seen in my sector. Like clothes, we received few leisure items like books, discs that hold stories that we got to watch on a large television in our building during our limited electrical times and for families with small children received small toys to keep them occupied.

This book had a bright cover with pictures of different things, none of which I could understand.

I trailed my finger over the image of a man wearing incredibly strange clothes. He was staring straight at me, his expression was of someone who was bored...not as bored as most of the humans in the class were, but as bored as my father was when he listened to Jonathan and me talk about home.

"Page 394 Clary. Please keep up." Professor Starkweather interrupted my thoughts.

I kept staring at the book, already knowing I was being stared at and turned the pages to the requested page. Big words at the top of the page said UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

My eyes moved over the page, not taking in any information. After a few minutes, I understood why the rest of the humans looked so bored. Professor Starkweather was speaking in a lifeless voice.

I couldn't contain my curiosity anymore, I glanced around the room till my sight landed on the golden boy. He was leaning back in his chair, seemingly bored. The human sitting in front of him tossed a piece of paper onto his desk. Golden boy picked it up and leaned forward in his chair and started inspecting the paper. Whatever was on it made him frown. He shook his head before leaning back in his chair, but this time he had a small thin yellow stick in his hands and was twirling it.

"Mr. Herondale, am I boring you?" Professor Starkweathers voice once again caught my attention.

I wanted to respond to his question, but golden boy answered before me. "Truthfully? Exceptionally so. Lying? Of course not sir! This is the most interesting class that I've ever attended!" There was a few chuckles from the students, but overall everyone stayed quiet.

I was shocked by his voice. It sounded warm and amused. He sounded nothing like he had when we met. It was him, wasn't it?

It had to be. What were the chances of a similar human that resembled gold existing?

I couldn't help the smile that fought its way to my lips. If I ever said anything like that to my father, or anyone in general, I would most definitely be punished.

Mr Starkweather didn't look as amused as most of the students. His fists were balled and his lips were pressed tightly together. "Well Mr Herondale, perhaps you'll find the topic far more interesting as you write the entire chapter out for detention."

Detention? What kind of punishment was that? Glancing at the golden boy, he didn't seem happy about it, but wasn't surprised either.

"Perhaps, but I doubt it." I heard Mr Herondale mutter.

Mr Starkweather seemed unhappy about his interruption, but continued speaking about his lesson. I was staring at my book, looking at the pictures of dark-skinned humans wearing odd clothes. I hadn't been listening to the lesson, but judging by the pictures of dark-skinned and light-skinned humans, I deduced humans weren't above treating their own kind horribly.

My inspection of the pictures was obscured by a piece of folded paper landing in front of me. Glancing up I saw Mr Lightwood quickly turn back in his seat, avoiding Mr Starkweather catching him.

Carefully I unfolded the paper, already knowing it wasn't going to be nice. It was the same message I'd seen on a protest sign outside.

'GO HOME OR DIE!'

I scrunched the paper till it was a small ball. I wanted to shout 'I do want to go home!', but I know how it would end.

Experiment over, father punishing me and possibly being attacked by every human and even my own people for ruining their chance of living peacefully with the humans.

I desperately wanted to know how long it was before we could go back to our sector. I'd prefer to be around familiar surroundings instead of humans.

* * *

According to the schedule Lucian had given us, it was lunch.

I wasn't hungry, even though father had given Jonathan and me money to buy food. In our sector, we had a small valley of stalls that sold food and clothes. My people were in charge of the stalls, but it was humans that filled their stock. Those that were in charge of the stalls were paid by the human government for there co-operation. Some of my people worked in the humans labs as test subjects, although they were mainly outcasts as the majority of my people thought of them as traitors. My father though was considered the hero of our people.

On arrival day, he had surrendered to the humans, promising to co-operate for the safety of our people. It was because of him that we have our lives, food and shelter. He constantly met with Lucian who was in charge of our affairs. Father was paid through Lucian for his work with coming up with ideas that could help make an alliance with humans.

The idea of living in a world of trading useless paper for goods was absurd, but it helped stop food and clothes from being taken freely. Any money in our sector was alway reused, the images on the paper that had been crumpled repeatedly

"Where do we go now?" Aline said quietly.

I shrugged and looked to the others. They seemed as confused as I did. I wasn't sure where humans bought their lunch, and I wasn't looking forward to finding out. It would mean more staring.

"The cafeteria is down the hall, take a right, go through the courtyard and in through the double glass doors." Ms Dorotea answered without looking up from a pile of papers.

Ms Dorotea was the Spanish teacher (Which I found out was another language.) and she was...peculiar. She didn't look at us any different from the rest of her students, which was a nice change, but she seemed to jump from one emotion to another.

She had asked students questions in Spanish and when one answered wrong, she went from cheerful to angry within a second. When another student started tapping their fingers against their table, she began twitching like she was in pain.

We all stood up from our seats and started to leave the room, slightly glad we now had a destination we could find. Cafeteria was a word I was familiar with. during the first few days after arrival day, survivers that hadn't been injured were placed in one huge building that had been used to sleep in. Another building next to it had been for eating which Jonathan had told me the humans had called a cafeteria.

I hadn't had the experience as I had been confined to a small room, healing after a metal bullet had pierced my chest and had somehow stopped one of my hearts. I had received two meals a day for a few days which I had refused to eat because I wasn't allowed to see my family. In fact, my family had thought I was dead those few days because I wouldn't speak to the humans and they had no idea what my name was.

When I was allowed to return to my people, I was to go to Charlotte and Henry who were taking care of children who lost their parents. Only as soon as I entered the building, Jonathan had spotted me. We had quickly reunited with my parents who I had never been happier to see.

I brushed my hand over the scar on my chest that I received from the bullet. Human doctors had removed it, but I still had the scar. It was slightly visible with the opening of my shirt, but it wasn't something you could see unless you look for it.

"Five dollars says the humans are going to attack us." Will said.

I glanced quickly at a nearby solider, but he didn't seem interested in us.

I turned to him grinning. "Five dollars says they're just going to shout threats."

Will's blue eyes twinkled as he smirked. "You're on!"

"No!" Jonathan hissed as we passed another solider. "No gambling. Lets just...try and stay out of any trouble with the humans."

"So basically, lets just let the humans walk all over us?" I hissed back, glaring at him.

Jonathan returned my glare. "If it means we get out of here alive, then yes."

I bit my lip from arguing further. I started walking slower till I was next to Will. "Still on?" I whispered low enough that Jonathan couldn't hear.

Will grinned again before winking.

"That must be the cafeteria." Jem said, pointing towards glass doors where humans were visible. I then realised we were outside.

The courtyard was small and square, multiple paths stretched across soft green grass, leading to different doors. Two large trees were placed in large patches of grass. The muffled sound of angry voices could be heard, but it was impossible to understand. There was a few humans outside, all staring at us, some where grinning at us.

We followed the path leading to the cafeteria. We all remained silent, preparing ourselves for the human crowd.

Sebastian reached the door first, opening it and allowing the rest of us to enter. Stepping inside, I clenched my teeth together as the display the humans had clearly made for us was visible.

A large table was set up in front of us, a sign on the front saying 'BAN TATTY'S!'. Five humans stood behind the table, two humans I recognised.

Mr Lightwood and golden boy.

"I'm going outside." I muttered before turning around and through the glass doors. My fists clenched as I heard laughter and taunts from the humans, hating that one of them could belong to '_him_'.


	4. Awkward meetings

As soon as I stepped outside, I instantly regretted detaching myself from my brother and friends. I was alone here.

But I couldn't go back into that building. The one human I had hoped wouldn't hate my species was just like all the other humans.

I looked around the courtyard, the humans that were standing around were staring at me. I swallowed a lump that formed in my throat as I walked towards one of the trees.

In our sector, vegetation didn't survive, aside from a hidden garden my father and I kept alive. Whenever I walked alongside the fence, I could see trees, I ached to walk through them. But if I managed to leave the secter, I'd be shot on sight.

All of my people were chipped, there was a rumour that among us, someone had a device that could disable the chips for a small amount of time. My father of course heard the rumour, but has labeled it untrue.

I made myself comfortable as I sat down between the roots of the tree that were wide enough. I took out my new Spanish book, wanting to look at the pictures. I couldn't understand the language, but the pictures of humans smiling and places I could only dream of visiting were enough to capture my attention.

Flipping the book open, I stared at a picture framed with words I didn't have a chance of understanding. The picture consisted of many buildings, all decorated with different coloured tiles. No building was one colour. I felt a smile tug at my lips as I imagined being able to run my fingers over the buildings and feel the vibrant colours first hand.

I traced a building with my finger tips, content for now knowing such a place existed. I'd gladly give everything I had just to experience to exploring such a place.

A shadow covered the book in my hands. I looked up to see who had disturbed my fantasy and was surprised to see that it was a human that approached me.

It was a girl. She had long black hair that reached her waist. Her skin was pale, not as pale as mine, but paler than most of the other humans. Even without standing up, I knew she was much taller than me. Her eyes were dark brown, unnerving me as I saw no fear or anger in them, which was unusual. I could tell she was beautiful by human standards. If Jessamine could pick a human to become close with, this would be her pick.

I closed my book without taking my eyes off the human. "Um...Hello?" I was unsure of what else to say. I didn't want to cause anger to a human, especially when I was by herself.

The girl had an odd emotion in her eyes. I couldn't tell what it was.

"Hi. My name is Isabelle Lightwood,-" I stiffened. The girl must be related to Mr Lightwood from my first morning class. "and I was wondering if I could ask you about a personal matter." The girl was looking around her as she said it, she now seemed nervous.

I frowned as I wondered what a human could want to ask of me. My species was exposed to the humans, any secrets we had, we made sure the humans had no way of learning them.

"Go on." I encouraged the girl, my curiosity sparking.

The girl kept glancing around, although all the other humans were too far away to hear, unless it was possible they had much better hearing then we had been led to believe.

"I've heard that your kind has a plant that can cure any illness..."

Ah, now I understood. Adamas.

Adamas was a root that only grew when taken care of properly. A few of my people had salvaged the root to grow for themselves because it was a plant that cured ailments, but only used properly.

Our kind was needed to activate the roots powers. Humans found out about the root and took it away from my people to use among their selves. Except, they only took the adamas that hadn't been taken care of properly. My father and I were the only ones to have perfect conditioned adamas.

The poorly grown roots the humans had taken were still usable, but they weren't as strong as properly grown adamas.

The human standing in front of me looked desperate. A part of me wanted to tell her I had the root, but a bigger part of me needed to keep it a secret. If humans found out that my father had a garden of our home planets plants and vegetation, we wouldn't have it for long.

"I'm sorry, I don't know of any such plant." I gave her what I hoped was a sympathetic smile.

Her dark eyes narrowed at me. I stiffened and scanned the area for any guards. If the human girl attacked me, I would be found guilty.

After a moment of tension, the human took a deep breath and exhaled. "Are you sure?" She sounded like she was pleading.

"I'm sorry." I said again.

The girl closed her eyes and shook her head, allowing black hair to fall into her eyes. I heard her mutter "It was worth a shot..." but I was sure I wasn't meant to hear that.

Finally the girl turned around and walked away.

I relaxed against the tree, sighing a breath of relief. I realised my hearts were beating faster than usual. Glancing around, I noticed many other humans were still staring at me, but no guards were in the area.

Tearing my gaze from the humans, I quickly but carefully placed my Spanish book back into my bag and stood to my feet. I walked towards the cafeteria, not wanting to be on my own and be approached by more humans.

Before I could reach the door, it opened and two humans walked out.

Mr Lightwood and Mr Herondale.

I froze in place as I saw Mr Lightwood saw me. His green eyes made me want to turn the other way, but I refused to allow him to think he intimidated me.

"Well, well, well. Looks like a tatty lost her group of freaks." Mr Lightwood sneared.

I glanced at Mr Herondale, who was glaring at Mr Lightwood.

"Lay off Gabe. You've already been warned by Blackthorn." Mr Herondale said quickly.

Mr Lightwood - Gabe - grimaced. He walked toward me, his gaze fixed on me. "Tatty's should have been killed years ago. All this idiotic experiment is going to prove is that tatty's can't be trusted. I look forward to the day where each and everyone one of you get a bullet through your heads!" He snarled, his voice got louder every few words.

Instead of getting angry, I smiled. That small action caused Gabe's jaw to clench. "I'm sorry our prescence bothers you so much. For a large planet, you all seem to need your space. But trust me, no one wants my people to go home more than me." I hissed, fighting the urge to apologise as I spat in his face.

Gabe's angry expression now shared disgust as he wiped his face with his sleeve. "When this experiment does fail, and it will!" Gabe snarled. "I'm going after you!"

"I'll be waiting."

Before Gabe could comment furthur, a hand clasped his shoulder. "A shield is watching man, just go!" Mr Herondale hissed.

I tensed as I realised he was closer to me now. I was able to see the specks of light brown specks in his golden eyes. I was able to see every detail in his shoulders as his muscles moved to pull Gabe away from me.

Eventually Gabe shook the hand off his shoulder. He continued to glare at me, even as he stalked past me, roughly bumping into my right shoulder. I lost my balance and fell to the ground, I glared back at Gabe as he walked away without apologising.

"Sorry about him." Mr Herondale said. I looked back at him, he was standing in front of me with his hand outstreched.

I couldn't help the anger that surged through me. I had expected hatred and distrust from other humans, but not from him.

I refused to take his hand. I made it to my feet myself, my hands stung from catching myself when I fell on the ground. One glance and I saw part of my palms had turned red, blood trickled out slightly.

"Wouldn't want to get 'Tatty' blood on you." I said harsher than I had meant to.

Mr Herondale was about to speak when a voice shouted "Jace!"

I glanced over to see the human girl who had approached me earlier was looking directly in my direction. I looked back at Mr Herondale to see he too was looking at the girl.

"I'm guessing she's calling you?" I asked, hoping my curiousity wasn't obvious. I hated to admit it, but I was still fascinated by the human in front of me.

He just nodded without saying a word.

"Welll, don't let me keep you." I said under my breath as I walked past him to go to the cafeteria.

He made no protest, although he had no reason to. But there was a part of me that got louder by the second that yearned for him to protest.


	5. Sector crashers

"Line up, I won't ask again!" General Herondale shouted as we neared the exit of the school.

It was finally time to go home, after an incredibly long day of being stared at, shoved 'accidentally' and having insults spoken to us both directly and discreetly.

My bag was now full of books, making it really heavy. Jonathan had offered to carry it for me, but I refused. He didn't seem comfortable carrying his own bag.

I waited for the others to line up where General Herondale had pointed. I couldn't help but search his face to see any resemblance to Jace. He had a helmet on, which obscured his hair from sight, but he seemed to have similar features to Jace. They must be related in some way. Especially since they both had the same eyes.

"Aline?" The general asked.

I looked over to see Aline standing beside her brother. She seemed caught off guard. "Yes sir?"

General Herondale looked down at a piece of paper in his hand. "Just doing a roll call. Clarissa?"

I caught sight of gold. I looked over at the doors where Jace stood, staring directly at us. "Here." I said quiietly, but loud enough for the general to hear. He nodded again before continuing the list.

I glanced away from Jace, not wanting to see him again. My earlier encounter with him still stung, but it was to be expected. I still wondered if he recognised me, but I doubted it. It had been years ago and he saw me get shot. He probably thought that little girl who had been hiding in a dusty little room was dead.

"Okay, let's ship out." General Herondale said before turning in his spot and heading towards the exit where all the humans had been a moment before. They clearly didn't want to cross paths with someone holding a gun.

* * *

Arriving back at the entrance to the sector, the view of the human city was gone and now only held the sight of humans talking into black sticks in front of cameras. As soon as they surrounded the bus, the cameras were pointed through the windows and so many voices were shouting, making it hard to understand what any of them were saying.

When the bus stopped, the door opened to a clear path with soldiers keeping the humans away.

"Everyone off the bus and inside the gate now!" General Herondale shouted as he leapt off the bus.

I leapt from my feet, desperate to get into the safety of the sector. I stepped off the bus and immediately felt the line towards the sector shrink. I felt myself be jostled as the guards tried to keep the humans back.

Finally I was through the gate and saw my father facing two humans who had been allowed entrance inside. I could hear them asking his opinion of the experiment, he was only too happy to respond of course.

"Clarissa!" I heard my mother before I saw her collide into me, enveloping me into her arms. "How did it go?" She asked.

She sounded panicked and it was obvious she hadn't relaxed throughout the day.

"I'm fine mother." I lied. She didn't need to know about the anger I held towards the humans. "We got a lot of work to do for tomorrow, so I better get started!" I said with fake excitement. Jonathan would do his part on reassuring her. He would be able to tell her everything she needed to relax.

My mother cupped my face, her emerald-green eyes showing so much emotions. "Okay, we'll talk later." She said before kissing my forehead and then ran over to where Jonathan must be.

I hurried though the roads that divided the buildings in my sector. Curious stares watched me as I walked through my people, but I was too tired to answer any questions they had. I just wanted a break from the stares.

* * *

It wasn't long before curfew what I found myself in the middle of the busy lives of the sectors market. Small lights helped light up the stalls, making the signs beautiful to look at.

I was wearing a large jumper with a hood that covered my face. I had seen Sebastian and Jem earlier, surrounded by questioning people. I didn't want to join in.

I watched as two children ran around people's legs, laughing and giggling. The adults were laughing as well, any signs of happiness was welcome in the sector. It wasn't something that happened all the time, but when happiness happened, it was welcomed by everyone.

I turned my gaze away from the children to see people getting closer to the stall than necessary. I was able to see two figures walking through the middle of the deserted road.

Golden hair caught the lights, making it shimmer.

"Are you joking?" I muttered.

Humans weren't allowed in the sector as much as we weren't allowed freedom outside the sector.

The hood covering my head was able to hide my face from view as I approached the two figures who were glancing at my people.

The golden-haired one was definitely Jace Herondale and his companion was also human, but he shockingly had the exact resemblance to Will. But where Will wasn't afraid to show off his looks, the human version of him seemed...ill.

Jace saw me approach them, and they both protested as I grabbed their arms and pulled them after me as I directed us towards a deserted part of the sector that was only used me my father and me.

When we were out of view of my people, I released the humans and turned to face them.

"Are you trying to get yourselves killed? Or just trying to get arrested?" I hissed.

Jace was trying to look under my hood. "Who are you?"

I removed my hood. "Keep your voice down. The guards will be looking out for you both" I felt conflicted as I came up with a plan.

The guards would know by now that two humans were inside. They would be patrolling inside the sector and outside the fence. They wouldn't be able to leave for a while.

"Y-You're one of them!" The blue-eyed human said breathlessly.

I frowned. It didn't sound like an insult or sound like he was scared. In fact, he was staring at me in astonishment.

"Aliens?" I asked before he nodded. "What else did you expect to find in this place?"

His pale face blushed, making me feel bad about my comment. He might be the only human that wanted to get to know about my kind without thinking the worst of us.

"Come on, they came this way!" A gruff voice shouted from the direction we came. I knew who it was.

He was a solider, one who wasn't afraid to use violence as a punishment. No one knew his name, he was just commonly known as 'The mongrel'.

Jace and the blue-eyed boy turned in the direction the voice came from. If they weren't aware of the situation they were in, it was up to me to help them.

I didn't owe them anything, but no one deserved the mongrel's form of punishment.

"Follow me." I whispered as I started walking.

I heard them start to walk after me, thankfully they were silent.

I led them through an abandoned building that could collapse at any moment. In the middle of the house, there was a trap door hidden under a moldy rug that no one would touch. I was used to it, so I pulled it away.

"Where are we going?" Jace asked, not so silent.

"Shh!" I turned to them. "It leads to a passage where you can hide out until you're able to leave."

Both humans exchanged looks of indecision before voices outside the door could be heard. Blue-eyes took that as a cue to enter through the trapdoor where stairs led down. Jace followed and before his head was lower than the hole, I followed, making sure the rug would be able to cover the door again before the guards found it.

The passage was dark, but easy to navigate by touch.

When we emerged, I took the lead in walking up flights of stairs of another building that was abandoned. It was boarded up on the bottom, so impossible to enter, which was why the passage was the only entrance.

Three flights of stairs and we emerged into the dark night air, the building was hidden from view as no one could see the roof from the ground and the buildings surrounding us were also abandoned.

My people found their strength in numbers. we lived as close together as possible, afraid to be forgotten if we spread out and easily taken by the humans.

We emerged onto the roof, I breathed a sigh as I noticed my father wasn't there. I hadn't been to the garden since yesterday.

I loved the solitude and peace of the garden where together, my father and I worked to keep vegetation alive.

"Wow." Blue-eyes breathed.

I turned to face the humans. "Don't get comfortable. Curfew is soon and I am not getting into trouble because of you two." I looked as stern as I could before turning back to the garden.

"Is any of these plants Adamas?" Blue-eyes asked.

I turned to face them. "Yes, why?"

Jace stepped closer to the garden. "You told our sister earlier that you didn't have any."

_Sister?_

"So we can't have our own secrets?" I countered as I self-consciously stepped towards the root they were looking for. "Now that you know there's some here, tell me what you want with for?" Neither of them spoke. "Whatever you think the plant was worth getting in trouble for, let me tell you that it's useless. You humans just sell it as a miracle cure for every sickness, so unless you're planning to sell it yourselves...it's not worth it." I rambled, I wasn't sure if my father would come here, he usually did every night before curfew.

I looked back at the silent humans and felt guilt surge through me.

Jace was glaring at the ground, his fists balled. Blue-eyes was staring at the sky, his eyes watery and a forced smile on his face.

"Do you know someone whose sick?" I asked without thinking.

Jace was about to speak, but blue-eyes spoke over him "He does." He looked pointedly at Jace.

"Oh." I felt more guilt flood through me.

I studied blue-eyes, understanding now why his skin was so pale. He was more than ill by their reaction.


End file.
